I got the inspiration for this dish when perusing Daisy Jane’s blog after being lead there by something or another on Pinterest (There’s a link to my Pinterest on the side bar, if you’re interested). I can’t quite remember why I was there initially, but this ginger-basil dressing that I found definitely wormed its way into my brain. I had some fresh basil from my CSA box so I got to work creating this. My dressing is slightly different. More like pesto vinaigrette with an asian twist, but it’s definitely tasty!

The veggies I used here are bok choy, yellow pepper, green beans, and onion. You can use anything you have hanging out in your fridge, this is a good dish when you have leftover halves of peppers and onions and such from other dishes. Here are just a few ideas for you: carrots, red pepper, cabbage, snow peas (or sweet peas), or celery. You could also top with some fresh bean sprouts, although I wouldn’t cook them (you can, I just prefer them uncooked!).

I used cashews as the protein in this dish, but you could also use peanuts or even almonds. If you want something more substantial, you could go with beans. I think garbanzo beans (chickpeas) would go very well.

Under the veggies there I have some wild rice mix. I had originally intended to serve this with brown rice, but after I scooped the rice into the pot to cook, it started to crawl! YUCK! Apparently it is more common for weevils to hatch in organic products because they aren’t fumigated to get rid of them. Warm environments encourage them to hatch… my pantry is in the same room as my washer and dryer. It gets pretty warm in there! This of course lead to my boyfriend and I going through every item that contained wheat in our panty to see if there were any creepy crawlies in there. There wasn’t, thank goodness! And thank goodness I had a different variety of rice lurking in my pantry. ;)

I add the veggies in stages, according to how long they need to cook. When you stir fry something it’s best to do it in a wok, but if you don’t have one use the biggest skillet you have. You’ll also be cooking this over medium high heat and stirring more very frequently (get it, stir fry!). Here are the stages for this stir fry: 1) Onions [add carrots and celery if you’re into that] 2) green beans 3) yellow pepper and the white part of the bok choy 4) bok choy greens and cashews. You’ll cook for a few minutes in between each stage.

First, put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. If you don’t have a blender (or yours is broken like mine was!) put the basil, garlic, and ginger in a food processer and pulse until it’s blended and chopped fine. Whisk the remaining ingredients with the basil mixture and set aside.

Next, put on the rice to cook. Then prep your veggies. Stir fry the veggies as described above. Serve the veggies over the rice with a drizzle of the dressing. Enjoy!